Starz Announces Spartacus: Blood and Sand Panel at Comic Con ’09

Looking for some doses of action, sex and Gladiator combat? Well you’re in luck, buckaroos, because that’s what the new Starz TV series Spartacus: Blood and Sand seems to be promising in spades. Just got a press release from Starz that says they will be holding a panel at this year’s Comic Con on Friday July 24th, and that the stars (Lucy Lawless, Peter Mensah, and Andy Whitfield aka Spartacus himself) will be on hand along with producers Rob Tapert and Steven S. DeKnight.

The world of gladiators comes to life as the Roman Republic’s most brutal fighters clash in the ultimate arena. “Spartacus: Blood and Sand” is an entirely new vision of the ancient legend and will utilize virtual environments giving it a unique graphic novel look and style, along with a fresh narrative approach. Debuting exclusively on Starz, “Spartacus: Blood and Sand” in January 2010 is produced by Starz Media with Executive Producers Rob Tapert, Sam Raimi and Joshua Donen. Starz’s new “Spartacus” series was inspired by the actual slave of the Roman Republic who in 73 BC led a slave revolt that grew to more than 120,000 fighters. Defying the Roman Republic’s legions of soldiers, they campaigned for two years through much of what is now Italy before succumbing to a much larger army. The new series will tell a new set of stories rich in character, action, sex and combat.

This series, including 13 one-hour episodes, is executive produced by heavy-hitters Sam Raimi (Spider-Man and Evil Dead), Rob Tapert (The Grudge, “Xena: Warrior Princess” and “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys”) and Steven DeKnight (“Smallville,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”). Production, based in New Zealand, runs through the end of October.

Devil’s Due Publishing will also be showing off their Exclusive First Edition of a new limited series comic inspired by the show, which will feature one of those newfangled special Comic Con covers. Girls can’t get enough exclusive Comic Con covers. Trust me.

Comic-Con ’09 takes place on July 23rd to July 26th in San Diego, California.

Below:One can only hope that the Spartacus panel will be, er, less ugly than this one.